Living with the Beasts
by LonelyAura
Summary: What would happen to Itachi if he had gone missing during the Kyubi attack? If he was raised by wolves? HIATUS! THIS WILL BE CONTINUED AT THE END OF SUMMER!
1. Chapter 1

**Living with the Beasts**

**Prologue 1 of three.**

**He Lives!**

**To any lurkers out there, the first two chapters of this story were rough drafts. I've decided I need to fix a LOT!**

**Start!**

"Obito… understand him… even a little… don't bear a grudge toward him." Asked Namikaze Minato, giving his student a sad look. He suddenly stiffened.

"Obito, can I ask you to let me put a seal on you?" The yellow flash asked.

Obito started. "Why?"

"It's a premonition, and probably nothing… But I feel as if you're going to need me. I'll put it on the palm of your left hand, and you need to slide blood in three ways to activate it. Down, across, and diagonally."

"I-If you're sure, sensei…"

"Come here then, it'll sting, but nothing more. Use this only if one of you is about to die…"

**An Ending… or Not?**

"Kakashi… I might live… My right eye's… cut at roots… I couldn't use it anymore… but you can… Left… palm seal… three… guhh…" Ground out Obito. He had thrown Kakashi out of the way of a rack, which had almost crushed the right side of his body. But a twitch in Kakashi's direction had saved him from the fate that would have occurred in another life. His right leg, arm, and a few ribs had been crushed, but at the angle at which they had been, it was still possible for Obito to live. A small deformation in the rock had saved his head, but a jag had pierced on the side of his eye, enough to avoid major sight damage, but it had cut through most of the muscle connecting it to the brain.

Kakashi rushed up and took Obito's hand, while Rin began to try to cut small parts of the rock away from Obito's face. On the Uchiha's palm was the inscription 'blood'. Kakashi then bit his thumb, and swiped it over Obito's palm three times, taking into account what his teammate had said.

Poof! "What is it…" The Yellow Flash asked, the question dying on his tongue as he took in the sight of the crushed boy.

"Kakashi, I need you to get Obito to safety the moment I bring the wall down. Rin, help support Obito. The place will probably come down."

'Let's hope the lessons Jiraya forced me to take with the Slug Princess paid off…' And with that, the blond reared back his hand, and struck the rock as hard as he could.

Crack! The two coherent students were awed as Minato crushed the rock into rubble, but did not stop to dwell on that as they had to get Obito to safety.

"Kakashi, Rin… I need you both to keep going and get Obito to safety… I'll complete the mission… If you go at top speed, you'll get to the hospital in a few hours. Go." The blond commanded. They nodded, and the teacher made a Kage bushin that henged into a stretcher.

The run was brutal for the three of them. Obito was in immense amount pain, and every stumble the two others made just made it worse.

Kakashi was horribly low on chakra, and his blind eye was throbbing. 'Are we going to live? Will sensei be okay?'

Rin was traumatized; her mind blank at the thought of her teammate and friend die before her eyes.

In hours they reached Konoha, and they were greeted by two surprised chunin guards.

"What-?" One asked. Kakashi shook his head and continued to run to the hospital. They passed the dango shop, where Itachi and Shisui were frozen in shock. They watched with wide, tear-filled eyes as the group made their way to the hospital.

"C-come on Itachi-kun, l-lets go t-to the hospital." Shisui stuttered, grabbing the younger's hand to lead him.

**End**

**Yay, I'm finished with this chapter. I've got the beginning of Itachi's life with the wolves on file, but a few things should be explained better…**


	2. Prologe 2 The Third's Sacrifice

**Living with the Beasts**

**Part two**

**An Accident of the Worst Kind.**

**Yay, new chapter is/will be up soon! Also, I thank SilverLunaMoon for reviewing. Also, this is my 'back up' story so when I lose muse on one, I can go to the others.**

**Start!**

Itachi sighed, looking out of the window in Obito's hospital room. Ever since Obito had gotten back, which was a month ago, he had been stuck in a coma. His eye had been implanted into Kakashi's as there was too much damage to the socket itself, and it would never hold a living eye again. It was now August.

"Hey Itachi," A voice said. Itachi turned to look at his cousin Shisui. "You're always sitting around here moping. We should go to the park or something…" If only they had not picked that day.

They left to the park, and played on the swings awhile, until an alarm went off. It was chaos. There were hundreds of civilians all trying to get to their houses. Iwa was attacking the wall!

Itachi began panicking when Shisui went out of sight, and the little boy just chose a direction to run in. This took him to the main battlefield next to the wall, in a large clearing.

There were kunai whizzing past his head, harsh voices yelling things he couldn't hear, and then he saw the first man go down.

He was struck in the head with a shuriken, and he collapsed to the ground not meters in front of the Uchiha heir.

Men started toppling around him, no one noticed the little boy cowering on the ground. Itachi shuddered in horror as a woman was decapitated…

"Heh, a little runt on the field. Trying to be a strong ninja like your daddy? Too bad you won't make it that far." A masculine voice spoke, causing Itachi to snap his head up toward the Iwa shinobi. He drew a kunai and threw it at the youngster, smirking maliciously when it slashed his arm.

"You're going to die here, ki-" _Thwack_. A kunai hit the back of the man's head, causing his corpse to fall on the petrified boy. 'What did I do wrong? I don't want this… I don't wanna die…' He thought, his fear keeping him quiet.

Hours passed, the boy huddled under the corpse of the enemy as screams of pain ran out. Slowly, the sound lessened until it was just silence. Itachi forced himself to crawl from under the body.

"DIE!" A scream of anguish yelled behind him. He turned. An Iwa boy, maybe fifteen, was charging toward Itachi. He was missing an arm and the other was cut along the side, blood was dripping into his eyes, and he ran with a limp. He lunged toward the younger with a kunai, who dodged to the left, the boy's missing arm side, and on sheer instinct, jammed the kunai(from the man who tried to kill him before) into the Iwa's stomach.

"Gah… too slow…" And the boy collapsed to the side of Itachi, dead. Itachi, frozen in shock, fell to the ground beside the boy and huddled there, waiting to die. More hours passed, and then Itachi heard footsteps.

"What's this… Holy shit…" A horrified voice came from far above him. Itachi cringed. He hoped it would be over quickly. A shadow came over his closed eyes and he pressed himself farther into the ground.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. Can you tell me your name?" A voice came from the man who had, judging from the location of his voice, kneeled down.

Itachi's teeth chattered and he tried to open his mouth, but the shaking was too strong.

"Listen, I've got to take you to safety… can I carry you?" He asked again, assuming that the boy was too frightened to speak. Itachi did his best to nod, but with his shivering, it probably was not noticeable.

"Okay… don't be afraid, I'm a Konoha shinobi." Itachi felt himself be lifted, and the man started jogging. Suddenly, it hit him on what he had seen, and he started retching.

"Woah!" The man muttered, and brought Itachi down so he could vomit.

"You done?" He asked. Itachi tried to nod, but he couldn't bring himself to. He was lifted again, and the man started running faster.

"I-Itachi."

"What?" The man questioned.

"N-name… is Uchiha… Itachi."

He whistled in shock. "I'm Jiraya, kid. Do you know Obito?"

"O-Obito-nii? Yeah."

"Ho ho, he's the student of my student!" Jiraya exclaimed. Itachi thought for a moment.

"Minato?"

"Yep!"

"Obito's… coma." This sobered Jiraya.

"What happened, Itachi-kun?"

"Crushed… under rocks, lost eye, gave to Kakashi…"

"Ahh…"

"ITACHI!" Came the desperate voice of his mother. Itachi felt himself being passed from one set of arms into another, lower set.

"Is he hurt? Why are his eyes closed? Where did you find him?" Mikoto implored, eyes with the sharingan bored into the sanin.

"Let's get him to the hospital first." Itachi felt a motion from his mother, but he wanted to sleep just now…

X-X

"Itachi… Itachi… Can you hear me?" A voice asked. Said boy slowly opened his eyes to find his mother's face looking down at him.

"Itachi. Why did you run away from Shisui?" Came a stern voice from behind his mother. He saw his father walking up from where he had been leaning from the wall.

"Shisui, where's Shisui? Obito?" He asked, ignoring his father.

"Obito is in the other room, and Shisui is outside. Why did you run away from Shisui, Itachi?" He repeated. Again, Itachi ignored him and tried to get out of his bed. His mother pushed him back down.

"Itachi, you need to answer your father's question…" His mother began. She was ignored as well, and he struggled from her grip.

"Itachi, answer my question!" At this point Itachi began sobbing, calling to his cousins.

_Slap,_ was the sound as Fugaku struck his child, trying to bring him into sense. He was not a bad father, but it was how he himself was raised, and he didn't know how to act toward children, so he simply copied his own father. Itachi just paused for a moment, and then began sobbing loudly.

"Why would you want to see **Obito** of all people anyway?" He asked his son, expecting no answer. Obito was not completely hated by his clan, but nor was he loved, either. It was mostly a strained tolerance. He was often teased his age group of the clan, being called weakling, among other things. He was only ¾ Uchiha, his grandfather on his mother's side being Nara. Obito was ignored at most clan meetings, and was thought of as a weakling by the older generations as well, though they did not ridicule him. But he had given his eye willingly when he knew he had a chance of living. Though Fugaku was very angry with the boy, he did not see this as a reason to banish him. Apparently, the elders did though, and had overruled him. The boy was no longer part of the clan.

At this moment, Shisui chose to enter. He blinked for a moment at the strained faces of Itachi's parents, before reaching Itachi himself. Then, he slowly approached the sobbing boy, and laid a hand on his shoulder. Itachi jerked his head up, looked at Shisui for a moment, and then promptly tackled the boy.

"I-Itachi, are you okay?" Shisui felt Itachi nod, then the younger stepped out of his hospital bed and ran to the hall outside, ignoring the protests of his parents. Shisui followed and caught a glimpse of his friend's foot as he ran into the room next to them, Obito's room.

In here, Rin, who had been visiting her friend, looked up in shock as the little boy ran to the bed and plopped down next to Obito and curled himself into a ball, ignoring everyone around him.

"What's wrong with Itachi?" Rin asked. She knew him from a few times where he would meet the team as they returned from missions, and in the past month.

"He was found on the battlefield, soaked in blood, and he's not making sense now." Shisui answered. "Can you look at him, p-please?"

"I'll do my best, but I'm not trained to deal with the mind…"

"Itachi, can you hear me?" The boy showed no sign of response. Shisui sat down next to him.

"I-Itachi… you're going to be okay." He promised.

"It wasn't my fault…" The four-year-old muttered. Mikoto stepped into the room quietly, and Rin put her hand to her mouth, a signal to be quiet.

"Wasn't my fault… Not my fault… It was not my fault." Itachi muttered. Mikoto began silently crying.

"Of course it wasn't your fault, Itachi, but we need to know what happened."

"Ugh…" A noise came from an unexpected place, Obito's mouth.

"Obito!" Rin cried out.

"OBITO-NII!" Sobbed Itachi, jumping onto the bed, being careful not to jostle the older boy. "It wasn't my fault! Not my fault! Not my fault…" He continued, trailing off into incoherency.

"What?!" Obito asked. When you wake up from a month long coma with a sobbing four-year-old clinging to you, you often get confused.

"Let me update you with some things, Obito… also, I'm glad to see you awake." Rin said, smiling weakly. "You've been in a come for a month, but it wasn't longer, thankfully."

"Obito, I don't want to say this, and I wish I had power over the decision, but the elders overruled Fugaku, and they've… banished you." Mikoto cut in before Rin could continue. She thought Obito was a nice boy, and that he should have been acknowledged for his kindness rather than his power.

"W-what?" Obito whispered, the blood draining from his face. "Is this why Itachi is like this?"

"We… don't know," Shisui picked up, hugging his older cousin, though his face was worried. "He was found on a battlefield after we got separated when the alarms went off. He's been like this ever since he woke up."

Obito nodded, looking disturbed. He had seen what some of those looked like. Bodies littering the forest, blood running like rivers, he had seen it.

"Itachi," Obito started, putting his good arm on Itachi's shoulder. "Can you tell me what happened? I wasn't there." Itachi nodded.

"It wasn't my fault." Obito continued to gaze at his little cousin. "Everyone was running, everywhere, and I ran… somewhere trying to find Shisui-nii. I ran into the forest, and into a clearing…" He paused to shudder and sob. "People were yelling, and kunai were flying everywhere. I tried to hide, but there was nowhere to go, and a shinobi from Iwa found me… He said mean things, and cut my arm." Itachi's hand moved up to grip the now-bandaged-scratch. "He suddenly fell on top of me; I think something killed him… Then, I waited for the noise to stop, and when I came out, there were bodies EVERYWHERE. Then, a boy a little older than you, Obito… He was limping and didn't have an arm, and he looked as if he couldn't see from the blood… And he tried to kill me… Wasn't my fault… not my fault…"

"What wasn't your fault, Itachi?" Obito asked. He was horrified at the thought of being banished, but his 'younger siblings' always came first.

"He tried to kill me, and… I rammed a kunai into his stomach. It's not my fault…" He began again, leaving a stunned silence in his wake. Mikoto almost gagged, Obito looked murderous, Shisui was beginning to cry, and Rin took a green tinge.

"I… need to tell Fugaku about this." Mikoto mumbled and left quickly, glancing back worriedly.

"I'll tell the receptionist you're awake, and get Kakashi and Minato-sensei." Rin said quietly and left just as quickly as Mikoto.

"Itachi, I promise, everything will be okay." Obito sighed, bringing Itachi up to his side and hugging him there with his good arm. "Come here Shisui." The eldest of the trio said, smiling gently at the eight-year old. He stepped over and clutched the blankets, beginning to cry as well.

"Obito-nii, I don't wanna be a ninja."

"What?" Said boy asked in shock, looking at the heir. Shisui also gave Itachi an odd look.

"If this is what ninja do, I don't want to be one. Killing is… wrong." The youngest spoke, shuddering at his last words.

"Well, if you had to kill one, evil, evil man to save a bunch of innocents, what would you do?" Obito asked, throwing out an example. Itachi frowned for a moment.

"I would… do something to him to make sure he can't use any weapons or jutsu and keep him in jail." He said, nodding to support his answer. Obito smiled lightly and thought for a few moments.

"It's a bit more difficult than that Itachi… Itachi?" But his little cousin had fallen asleep by his side. Shisui stood up and searched for a moment in the cabinet on the far side of the room, and pulled out a thin blanket.

"You're not letting Itachi in there without me. Besides, it's kinda chilly here." He said with mock hurt in response to Obito's curious gaze. "Your bed's giant anyway."

Of course, just minutes after Shisui had lain next to his youngest cousin did everyone arrive.

"Obito, I heard you woke up, how are-" Began Minato after bursting through the door, but cut short at the sight of Obito's two little cousins curled up next to him. He chuckled softly, completely ignoring Obito's one-eyed glare.

"Oh that just takes the cake of cuteness…" He told Obito. Of course, to add to the embarrassment were Kakashi and Rin walking in.

Rin stared for a moment before she began to giggle softly. Kakashi just blinked at them, amusement flickering on his eyes.

"Hey, what ever happened to the mission?" The oldest Uchiha-former!- in the room asked, suddenly worried, and grasping for something to distract the others from the situation. Minato smiled.

"It went perfectly, Obito." Their sensei smiled. "When you summoned me, I had just finished helping out our side, and the seal brought me much closer to the bridge, and I finished the task quickly."

"That's good." Sighed Obito, suddenly tired. Randomly, pain began lancing up the right side of his body. "Shit!" He cursed, wincing.

"What's wrong?!" Rin asked, appearing next to him in a flash. Kakashi and Minato followed, looking worried.

"My right… hurts." He ground out. Rin went for the cabinets.

"Will you be okay, Obito-niisan?" Shisui asked, sitting up. Rin came back, holding a bottle.

"You've been able to speak, so I think you're motor functions are fine. But can you swallow these pills while lying down?" She asked. He nodded slightly, and swallowed the pills she had given him.

"I'll explain what Rin told me about your body," Kakashi spoke up. "There is a chance, but a small one, that you may continue your life as a ninja. Your right arm and leg bones are splintered, but there is a way to save them if we can get Tsunade to help." Obito nodded, everyone in the ninja ranks knew about her.

"I think she'll help. Ever since she got that Dan of hers…" Chuckled Minato.

"So you'll be okay, Obito-aniki?" A new voice asked. Everyone turned to look at Itachi in surprise. Firstly, he had woken up just as Obito had begun feeling pain. Only Shisui had noticed him stir. Secondly, he had always called Obito 'older brother', never 'honorable older brother'.

"I-I don't know Itachi, but are you okay?" Obito asked, stuttering in shock at the new honorific. Itachi looked up at Obito for a moment, and shrugged slightly.

"I think it's best if we leave." Minato spoke quietly. "I hear Fugaku-san coming; you may want to talk to him alone…"

"I'll see you later, Obito-kun." Rin said, giving a grimace of sympathy.

"Stay safe, baka." Kakashi told him, smiling to take the sting from the insult. At this moment, Fugaku and Mikoto came in, and three of Team Minato left.

"Obito…" Fugaku began. This was not easy for him. "I did not wish for you to be banished." Obito turned his eye to him in shock. "I would have given you punishment, but you would not have been banished from the clan. But the elders overruled me, and you are out of our reach now." And with that, Fugaku stood up and left. Mikoto stepped forward and pecked Obito on the cheek.

"Itachi is welcome to visit you, and I'm sure Shisui's mother will extend the same rights. Now, Obito, we must go as it's getting late. Come, Itachi." She picked up her son from Obito's bed and nodded to Shisui to follow.

"You'll be okay?" Shisui asked.

"I hope so, little cousin." He answered as they closed the door. Obito frowned for a moment, he was sure that the last sentence Fugaku said had a double meaning. ' "You are out of our reach now…" You are now out of reach of the Uchiha clan… Out of the pressure…' Obito smiled happily as he worked it out.

**And Life Continued**

Obito was treated by Tsunade, who over a series of operations repaired his shattered body. They had attempted to send Itachi to some therapy for the attack, but he simply ignored any and all questions that the poor woman asked him. Eventually they had given up. About a week after Obito had awoken, a certain Jonin was promoted to a VERY high status.

"I am proud to announce Namikaze Minato as Yondiame!" Yelled Sarutobi over the cheering crowd as he passed the hat to the new Hokage.

Just days after, life began taking its darker turns. Tsunade's lover, Dan died on the field, and she left Konoha with her apprentice Shizune. Then, Orochimaru was discovered with the missing children's bodies, all grossly mutated, and a boy named Tenzou (AN: His name is unknown, so I'll call him that) was the lone survivor.

Obito slowly began going through physical therapy, and was due to begin his ninja career -minor D-rank missions- in August of next year.

In December Mikoto announced to the clan that she was two months pregnant, and that the child was due in July.

Fugaku began teaching Itachi fire jutsu, and Shisui turned nine on January 17th. Daily activities continued, Minato complained about the paperwork, and Kakashi became ANBU. On February 10th Obito turned fourteen, five months after Kakashi. Rin celebrated her own on April 15th. Months later, Mikoto celebrated her twenty-eighth birthday, and Itachi celebrated his fifth nine days later. By then, Obito was able to walk with crutches for short distances. When he would be getting out of the hospital, he would move in with Kakashi.

July came, and towards the end, Itachi gained a sibling.

"PUSH! YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!" Came a yell from inside the room. Itachi flinched at the sound of a scream, and then, a loud squall. Obito patted Itachi's shoulder reassuringly, and Shisui smiled brightly.

"It's a boy!" Came Mikoto's voice from inside. The trio and most of the Uchiha clan, waited for a long while until a tired looking Fugaku stepped out.

"Itachi, come see your brother. The rest of you will see him later." The others grumbled but left, though Itachi made Shisui and Obito stay. Fugaku sighed but said nothing. They stepped up to the hospital bed where Mikoto was resting with the baby in her arms.

"His name is Sasuke." Fugaku whispered, looking at the child.

"The birth was easy for her." A medic-nin spoke from a machine in the corner. Itachi's birth had been agonizing for his mother, and she was stuck in the hospital for weeks afterward.

"I wonder when Kushina-san's kid will be born…" Obito mused quietly so only Shisui and Itachi could hear.

"Who's Kushina?" Shisui whispered back, getting Itachi from looking at his with awe, though the five-year-old had heard Obito before(he just didn't act on it).

"Kushina-san is Minato-sensei's fiancé, and she's seven or so months pregnant." Obito answered off handedly. Then he realized what he had said so thoughtlessly.

"Listen, guys…" He started. "You can't tell anyone about this. It's supposed to be a secret. If anyone bad figures out that Minato-sensei has a lover, they could die!" He whispered to them as Mikoto awoke and began talking to Fugaku for a few moments.

"O-Okay, Obito-nii." Shisui agreed. Itachi nodded solemnly.

"Itachi, come look at your baby brother, Sasuke." Mikoto called. Itachi stepped to her side and hesitantly touched the side of his face. The baby stirred and moved into Itachi's hand. Fugaku gave a small smile from his corner.

"Well, are you going to greet your little cousin, boys?" Mikoto asked the two standing behind Itachi. Shisui blinked and made his way to the side of the bed while Shisui followed. Itachi stepped back to allow them to greet his brother, but he paused as a thought came to him.

'Sasuke doesn't deserve a murderer as a brother. I don't deserve him.' Itachi just turned and ran out of the room as fast as he could, ignoring some yelled out words by his family.

He ran and ran through the streets of Konoha, not noticing the odd looks. Eventually, he came upon a small forest, and sat down behind a tree and began sobbing.

"Hello!" A cheery voice came from in front of him. Itachi snapped his head up to see…

"Tobi wants to know why the little boy is sad. Why are you crying, little one?" He asked cheerily. Itachi watched him uncertainly and realized that he should not be in the forest alone.

"Oh no, Tobi won't hurt you! Tobi won't because Tobi is a good boy!" He shouted, causing Itachi to wince. Only Obito was this loud!

"I'm I-Itachi, and I'm crying be-because my brother shouldn't have me as a sibling." He sniffled. Though Itachi knew that ninja had to kill, it still felt wrong and horrible to him.

"Why shouldn't your brother have you as a brother?! I'm sure you're a very nice boy!" 'Tobi' asked, aghast.

"No! I'm not nice! I killed him… I killed him…" Itachi wailed. 'Tobi' blinked. He had heard that a boy from the Uchiha had come from the most recent skirmish injured and shocked, but he never imagined it would be the heir, and especially with the boy like THIS. 'Who did he kill?' The man wondered.

"Well, killing is a ninja's job, isn't it?"

"B-but… It was still wrong… he was more hurt than I was…" The five-year-old muttered. 'Tobi' gave a long sigh, but just as he opened his mouth(not that Itachi saw, though) to speak, he heard calling through the woods.

"Tobi needs to go now, Itachi-kun! Tobi is sorry he has to leave so soon! Bye-bye!" And he disappeared. Literally. Itachi flinched as he saw the space the older man had been in not a second before, and whipped his head from side to side. He thought about the man. He had long, wavy hair and an orange-and-black mask, with standard shinobi attire. Itachi touched his own shoulder-length hair thoughtfully.

"Itachi!" The voice of Kakashi came from somewhere behind him after a few moments. The Uchiha heir stood up on unsteady legs and came from behind the tree.

"Oi! There you are! Don't you know what a scare you gave everyone, gaki?" He asked, obviously annoyed at being sent to find the child. Itachi glared.

"I am not a gaki." He did not appreciate being called a brat. Anything else, he could ignore and blow off, but 'brat' was his weak point. He had too many expectations set on him. For the past while, his father had gone easy on him because of what he had seen, but Fugaku had started pressing him recently to show less emotions and become stronger.

"Right, you're just a chibi-gaki." (AN: Chibi is kid/baby/something to that effect, and Gaki is brat/annoyance/ect)

"Katon: Endan!" (AN: Something like 'Fire style: Fireball!')

Though the ANBU was able to escape being burned, he still had to deal with getting the annoyed boy home, though he loosened up when he saw the bruise under Itachi's long-sleeved shirt the next day.

And normal habits went on for the next two months. In August was Fugaku's thirty-third birthday and September 15th was Kakashi's. All three of Minato's students noticed the two Hokage's constantly meeting together, along with Jiraya at times, seeming to discuss seals, judging what Kakashi would find when he entered the tower. On October 1st, Obito got a glass eye implanted, even though it couldn't see; it was to confuse enemy ninja. Obito was now walking without crutches, and he could jog a mile when pushing himself.

Ten days later was when _it_ happened.

Itachi had gone to the park alone, as Shisui was studying for the graduation exam and Obito was doing some D-rank mission or another. The ground began shaking, thunderclouds came out of nowhere, and a burning, acrid smell filled the air.

Chunin began rushing around, trying to get civilians to safety. Itachi, horrorstruck with memories, hid under the slide. A few hours later, a man appeared in front of the five-year-old.

"Are you Uchiha Itachi-kun?" He asked. The child nodded.

"Good. I'm Kuroshi, and your family asked that I bring you to where they are hiding." Itachi smiled and walked to the man, and was lifted piggy-back style.

In reality, Kuroshi had not been sent by the Uchiha. He HATED them, as one of them had prevented his advancement from Chunin, then Jonin for six years. Also, he was a spy for Kiri(Mist) and he detested the Uchiha for their Kekke Genkai. By pure chance, he had happened upon the heir, and he was going to take advantage of that. In minutes, they were standing in the shadow of the Kyubi no Kitsune, the Nine Tailed Fox.

"Kuroshi… what's -ughc- going on?" Itachi asked, the chakra beginning to give him a fever. Though it's a little-known fact, great chakra sources, such as the Kyubi, Hachibi, and the other bijus, tend to make young children sick. Well, besides their respective jinchuriki.

"Revenge, that's what." He said in a dark tone. It was here that Itachi began panicking.

"W-what? Kuroshi-san, I don't like this, it's making me ill… Kuroshi-san, wha- No, NOOO STOP!" Screamed Itachi, the scents, sounds, and general feeling of the area making him panic.

"Here you go, brat, right where all Uchiha deserve to go, into the Kyubi's stomach." And with that, Kuroshi slung Itachi off his back and threw him with as much force as possible at the Kyubi.

Itachi began screaming as loudly as possible, given the strain on his body. From his view, he could see many being crushed by the paws around him… This went on for hours, until he saw something that would save him, though he did not know it.

A giant frog suddenly appeared, and though Itachi hadn't realized it, he had activated the sharingan, which gave him a better view of what was happening.

There were two forms on the frog, and one was carrying a bundle of sorts. The taller one did something, which caused a giant… Kami(?) to appear. Itachi felt the air around him shift, and something hit him.

He felt as if he were being killed and revived and killed again for moments, and then everything spun, and faded. The last thing he saw was the taller figure on the frog be pushed out of the way by the smaller one, which the Thing… ate. The taller figure, blond, as Itachi could see now, was standing shocked, holding a crying bundle. It went black.

What truly happened was something that shouldn't have been possible, but was. The Yondiame had summoned the Shinagami, and it had been expecting his blood. But, the third pushed himself in front of the Yondiame and cast a seal on himself. This seal was meant to bring half of the Kyubi's chakra with him in death, and to allow the god to except him. This action would change EVERYTHING.

"Sorry… Minato… I couldn't let you leave your son." And with that, the Third died.

**XXX**

Silversong had been taking a walk alone, to stretch her legs and mourn her unnamed son.

The she-wolf had given birth a bit less than a month ago, but her only male pup had been stillborn, making her have only a litter of two. She loved her two daughters all the same, but she still mourned. She had not been able to get away before, but now she was left alone while another took care of her pups.

Suddenly, a loud _crack_ was heard, and Silversong jumped in fright. She sniffed.

'It smells like an upwalker… a pup at that.' She thought. Her maternal instinct suddenly kicked in.

"Mother wolves must help a pup in need." The mother recited the unofficial law passed from female to female.

She approached cautiously, and found an upwalker pup, that smelled of sickness and fire. She approached it, and lifted it by the outer pelt it was wearing.

'I will care for this pup until I die. He will be my son.'

**END**

**Yes, I know I should get to my other story, but I'm too lazy just now to update it. There is no 'part three' of the prologue. It truly starts next chapter.**


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